I’ve drunk V8 Vegetable Juice for a couple of decades to help ensure that I’m getting some of the recommended daily allowance of vegetables. This V8 vegetable drink simplifies the routine consumption of healthy vegetables, though this V8 does have significant levels of salt. Still though, in moderation, the nutrition you get from the whole vegetables herein probably offsets this added sodium.
Largely tomato-based, this eight-vegetable V8 juice is stuffed with vitamins A and C, and provides two servings of vegetables per 8-ounce serving. V8 is like a liquid vegetable salad, that you can feel good about drinking. No caffeine. No added sugar. Just a simple yet very healthful elixer that will not raise your cholesterol levels. Yet V8 does supply lots of orange and red vegetables such as tomatoes, carrots, and beets, and much of the specialized nutrients that those supply.
Benefits, Pros, Advantages, and Features
- With its sugar content so low, not only is this original-flavored V8 juice not addictive in my opinion, but it’s a superior health choice over pop and sugar-laden fruit juices in which much of the fiber is removed during refining. V8 can actually lower your triglycerides and raise your HDL (good) cholesterol when taken in place of these other sugary sweet drinks at times.
- While I did not immediately develop a taste for V8 vegetable juice, I now thrive on its low-spice vegetable flavor. There are neither onions or garlic to foul your breath in V8.
- This V8 juice product retains its “brand new” flavor and look for over a year in a cool, dry spot in the pantry. No need to refrigerate V8 until after opening. But do refrigerate after you crack the red-cap top seal. Once opened, V8 juice keeps in the refrigerator for seven to ten days.
- I had consumed this original salt-added version of V8 for several years during the 1990s. While I was thrilled to eventuall discover the low-sodium, salt-free version in the early 2000s, I nonetheless, truly enjoyed original V8, and still buy it occasionally when the low-salt version becomes too bland for my tongue.
- This nutritious vegetable V8 blend gives you eight different vegetables, including tomatoes, carrots, celery, beets, parsley, lettuce, watercress, and spinach. Tomato rules by far in this beverage.
- V8 drink is a great refresher during a work break, particularly if after the break, you head to business gatherings in cramped and small conference spaces with many people sitting near you at the conference table.
- V 8 coctail has 2 grams of fiber per 8-ounce serving, and a modest 8 grams of sugar; all of which is part of the included vegetables and not man-added.
- There is no fat, which makes V8 rather ideal for heart-healthy diets. But consider the salt amount before drinking too much.
- It’s a tasty potassium source, which can counteract some of the sodium from other sources that you consume in your diet, and lower your blood pressure too.
- Resembling tomato juice, V8 refresher provides just 50 calories per serving, which is just over half the calories in a cup of fat free skim milk.
- While V 8 juice is cooked prior to bottling, and thus stripped of a bit of the nutrition that you’d otherwise receive if you ate fresh vegetables, I believe that consuming it is still a healthier, more mineral-rich alternative to soda fountain drinks and other heavily sugared liquids and juices.
- While eating fresh, uncooked vegetables would be most ideal, sipping V8 vegetable drink is still a decent choice when you cannot prepare fresh veggies. You still get much of the nutrition of said vegetables, but without the concern over the fresh vegetables spoiling should you not eat them in the next several days.
- V8 is a highly popular health food juice that’s graced store shelves for decades. So it’s generally easy to find today.
Disadvantages, Cons, Problems, Concerns, and Suggestions for Improvement
- Being that much of the bottle is transparent, you can easily see the vegetable juice inside. But this also exposes the drink to the bright lights in many stores, which can harshly affect the flavor after long light exposure. So keep your V8 drink in a cool and dark place for maximum flavor preservation and minimal nutritional losses.
- V8 contains a good deal of sodium (480 milligrams per serving), which is actually higher than the Great Value version of this product from Walmart.
- I prefer glass bottles, and so, wish that the V8 manufacturer would package this vegetable juice in glass rather than the plastic currently used.
Product Rating
Though it took some months to develop a real liking for V8 vegetable juice, I eventually came to find the thought of it tantalizing. Today, this mild-flavored yet thick drink quite effectively excises my thirst, though it completely lacks any sweet taste. A drink need not be sweet to be a wonderful thirst quencher. E.g. water. Indeed, V8 quenches thirst well without either added sugar or fat. I would accordingly, highly recommend adding this vegetable juice to your healthy life style rituals. Try it after a run on the treadmill. I’d rate this product at 92 out of 100.
Where To Buy V8 Vegetable Juice
You’ll find this original version of V8 at just about all grocery stores large or small. Look for V8 in the clear plastic 64-ounce bottle with the red cap and the white label that has a picture of some of the vegetables contained within and the V8 logo proudly depicted on the front as it should be.
References
Revision History
- : Added whitespace, adjusted ad placement, reworked category and tag assignments, and tweaked the content.
- 2012-04-24: Originally published.